We in the LIVES project have been working with the national extension system in Ethiopia and are happy to share our experiences in relation to gender equity. Below please find a summary of our experiences.
Best regards,
Azage Tegegne
LIVES Project Manager
LIVES project approaches, experiences and lessons in gender-responsive agricultural extension and advisory services
In recent times, the landscape of agricultural extension and advisory services in Ethiopia is changing with new roles, actors and relationships coming into play. Several initiatives have been taken by the government, development partners and civil society organizations to deliver market-oriented, gender-responsive and climate-smart extension and advisory services.
Development agents in Ethiopia are no more focusing on technology transfer alone but are required to facilitate linkages and innovation along the value chain and need to have a broader set of skills than previously was needed.
My contribution aims to reflect on the approaches, experiences and lessons of the LIVES project in developing the capacity of public extension services to design and deliver gender-responsive agricultural extension and advisory services. The Livestock and Irrigation Value Chains for Ethiopian Smallholders (LIVES) project is jointly implemented by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in partnership with public and private partners at different levels.
LIVES intervenes in four regions to capacitate the public extension system in market-oriented development approaches. Core to LIVES interventions is gender equality and women’s empowerment. The project has tested innovative approaches to increase the participation of women in value chain development interventions. Key features of LIVES gender strategy and methodology include: conducting gender analysis; setting gender targets; collecting gender-disaggregated data; conducting gender reviews of project plans and reports; and organizing women-focused study tours and field days.
Two participatory approaches - couples training and household coaching and mentoring - have proved effective in addressing gender constraints in reaching out to women both in male- and female-headed households. The LIVES project adopts couples training – training both husband and wife – on the ground that male household head only training can suffer training application challenges, as husbands rarely transfer learning to their household members.
The project experience shows that adopting couples training approach has several advantages. For example the approach has:
- Improved collective household decision and action, as it increases access to knowledge and skills by women in male-headed households and enhances their acceptance and ability to share knowledge within the household and with neighbours.
- Increased training application, as the couples share knowledge and support one another in applying trained knowledge and skills in the workplace.
- Increased knowledge and information sharing through informal and formal interactions of women networks.
- Helped male development agents mitigate socio-cultural constraints to working with women producers, since husbands are trained with their wives and the couples have developed action plans for knowledge and skills application with a follow-up technical support from development agents.
There are, however, challenges to implementing the approach. It requires closer engagement with development agents to convince them and develop their confidence in the approach. It also requires engagement with couples to discuss training utility and what the household could change as a result of the training. Another constraint is venue and duration of training events. Couples training events should be organized in places where women in male-headed households can return home on the same day. Training should be village based, given at times suited to women's workload and should focus on practical skills and technologies selected and prioritized by the women.
The other approach is household coaching and mentoring. The project adopts this approach to address training transfer challenges and increase learning opportunities for women and youth in male-headed households. The project has provided intervention households with regular follow-up and technical support in applying learned knowledge and skills in the workplace.
As for couples training, household coaching and mentoring approach has several advantages. For example, it has:
- Enhanced interactions among household members, leading to increased sharing, learning and collaboration, and adoption of improved technologies and practices.
- Helped fill learning application gaps and continue the learning process after training sessions through practice and feedback.
- Facilitated spontaneous dissemination of knowledge and skills among producers through the demonstration effects of coached and mentored households, who have provided assistance to other producers in acquiring new knowledge and skills.
- Helped male development agents reduce socio-cultural constraints to reaching out to women in male-headed households.
In conclusion, we have observed that, as a result of couples training and household coaching and mentoring interventions, women in male-headed households have come forward as leaders of value chain activities. Women are more practical and eager to apply learning from training sessions. They have influenced their households to make changes based on new knowledge and skills gained. It is expected that the resulting social and economic empowerment of women would give them more recognition as equal partners in the household and in the community as well. Involving partner staff in the organization and facilitation of couples training and household coaching and mentoring has helped develop awareness, willingness and skills to increase the participation of women in learning and sharing events. Coaching and mentoring of public extension staff has increased willingness and ability of project partners to involve more women in project interventions.
Azage Tegegne